This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Rugby Wolfpack chasing speed across three countries

Toronto's first-year rugby league club is hoping to find a crossover star like American sprinter Carlin Isles.

Cleveland native Monte Gaddis, a former college football star trying to reinvent himself, had the fastest 40 time in the Toronto Wolfpack's open rugby tryout Saturday. (Andrew Lahodynskyj / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

When the Toronto Wolfpack decided to hold a six-city series of open tryouts, the fledgling rugby league club hoped to find a broader audience. That’s why they’re fashioning the auditions into “The Last Tackle,” a reality show that will air both in Canada and abroad.

The team, which begins play in rugby league’s third division next March, is in search of speed — hence an open tryout next month in Kingston, Jamaica. And hence the intense focus on the 40-metre dash among the players and coaches gathered at Lamport Stadium for the Toronto leg of the tryout tour.

David Argyle, the mining executive who is among the club’s biggest financial backers, descended from the bleachers as the sprints began, trying to divine each player’s time even before he ran.

Call it the Carlin Isles effect. The American sprinter-turned-rugby sevens star has prompted coaches across rugby codes to search for a duplicate, and inspire other fast guys switch sports.

“I saw Carlin Isles and I thought, ‘Can I be the Canadian version?’ ” said Steven Adu, a former Bishops football player who tried out Saturday. “He claims he’s the fastest American rugby player. Can I be the fastest Canadian?”

Article Continued Below

Adu, a 27-year-old North York native, first tried rugby in January in Red Deer, Alta., where he had been playing semipro football. Though he prides himself on tackling, the nickname Sonic Steve suggests speed is his most useful tool. Adu claims a 4.42 second personal best over 40 yards, and says he ran 60 metres in seven seconds flat at Bishops.

That speed set him apart from most of Saturday’s hopefuls but leaves him several strides behind Isles, who has run 6.65 for 60 metres and 10.15 for 100.

Wolfpack officials realize Adu-level speed is more common than Isles-type elite wheels, but they hope to tap into unexplored talent sources. Next week the tryout tour moves to Philadelphia, then on to Tampa, Fla., and Kingston before concluding Nov. 6 in Vancouver.

The club scheduled the Florida tryout knowing the football-rich state, renowned for supplying the NFL with fast players, could yield a future star. But their casting call attracted responses from across the southern U.S., and most applicants are former high-level college football players.

“There’s so many great athletes out there just waiting to be picked,” said club director Adam Fogerty. “At the end of the day, gridiron football came from rugby.”

The club expects to extend about 20 training camp invites to players from its open tryout tour. Those players will attend training camp in England alongside the rugby league veterans the club has already signed. About five are expected to make the final cut.

To stand out among hundreds of hopefuls, it helps to have a reality TV-friendly back story.

Cleveland native Monte Gaddis, who tried out in Toronto on Saturday, made news last November when he camped out at the Browns’ training complex wearing a cardboard sign and campaigning for a tryout with his hometown team.

But the former NCAA linebacker enhanced his chances by developing the one attribute more alluring to coaches than his determination.

Speed.

Gaddis, who recorded 124 tackles as a senior at Towson University, has dropped 20 pounds since staking out Browns headquarters. On Saturday, coaches timed him in 4.78 seconds over 40 metres.

It’s not Carlin Isles speed, but it was the afternoon’s fastest result and a step toward a new career for a player who has spent a lifetime on the gridiron.

“I come from an area where rugby is not one of the top sports,” said Gaddis, 24. “But you don’t have to make it one way, with football or basketball. Think outside the box. It’s never too late to reinvent yourself.”

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com